Shinobi of House Telvanni
by Ceyvarla
Summary: A chance encounter early in Naruto's life leads to the appearance of a new power in the shinobi world. Witness the rise of Naruto as the leader of Clan Telvanni. DISCONTINUED, PENDING REBOOT
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the Elder Scrolls series.

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The sky was burning.

In truth, it was not just the sky burning. The stars, barely visible through the clouds, were nothing more than orbs of pure heat, floating in the great Void. The stars were always visible, for there was no day in this place, no bright sun to turn its gaze upon this hell. The land, too, was burning. A seemingly endless sea of molten rock surrounded this tiny isle; the hot liquid was visible through cracks in the stony ground.

Master-Wizard Ivelaes did not like the heat. It reminded him of his first mission under the Nerevarine, when he was appointed as her new Mouth. He had been sent to Ald'ruhn, ordered to assassinate a Redoran noble. The assignment had nearly become a disaster. He had been nervous (quite understandable seeing as the Archmistress' previous Mouth was put to death after returning from a failed mission), and his nervousness had led him to blow his cover at the worst moment possible. If he had not been trained in large-scale demolition spells, he would likely have died, at the hands of the guards or of his own leader. As it was, he collapsed the noble's home, burying the man alive, and cast a spell of Recall just as the guards arrived.

"If only it were so easy now," Ivelaes thought with a frown. He had planned for the opening of the Great Gate to be brief. A small team of mages, led by him, would enter the gateway realm and cast spells of levitation, bypassing the gate guards to enter the central tower and retrieve the Great Sigil Stone. There was not supposed to be any real danger to Tel Uvirith, assuming the defenders kept the Daedra contained; the gate should have been closed before the Daedra could even start to rally their forces. How could he have known that the overwhelming energy of the Great Sigil Stone would negate their spells of levitation? He certainly had not planned for this outcome: all but three of his companions were dead, and one of the survivors was comatose. They had almost reached the Sigillum Sanguis, but at least twelve more Daedra still stood between them and their prize.

He was distracted from his thoughts by a voice. "Sir," spoke the young Dunmer, softly, "with all due respect, this may be a suicide run." Ivelaes knew the mage was right. They were outnumbered four to one, and while he was confident he could take down four of the guardians, he was not so sure about his companions' abilities. In the back of his head, he was already formulating a plan, but it was several seconds before he spoke.

"You must remain here," Ivelaes spoke, "I shall go alone to the zenith, and retrieve the Stone." His subordinates stared at him in shock, as he continued: "When the stone is displaced, this plane will collapse, and you will be sent back to our world unharmed. You would not survive the coming battle, and I will not throw away the lives of my subordinates so carelessly."

Ivelaes did not waste time listening to his followers' feeble protests. A single, quickly cast spell rendered them helpless: paralyzing, silencing, and camouflaging them all at once. Ivelaes stood stiffly. He could feel their stares though he could not see them, but he ignored their unvoiced cries and began the climb.

The battle was a display unlike any other. Ivelaes could have become Archmagister had he been born earlier, in the time of Gothren, but once the Nerevarine took power none dared to challenge her for the position. His title, Master-Wizard, was symbolic; the power he held marked him as a Master, but he retained the title of Wizard as well, to show his subservience to the true mistress of Magicka. Many of the Daedra guarding the stone had expected their opponents to be worn out from the long climb. These were the first to perish, their bodies held by ice and torn by lightning, their spirits banished to the great void. The rest were smarter, keeping their distance from the powerful Telvanni, hiding behind warding magicks that were ripped to shreds by the first assault. At last, the Dome was empty; the only sound was the high-pitched keening of the focus beam.

Ivelaes was tired. Ascending the blood-soaked steps, his body demanded that he stop and rest. Nevertheless, he pushed onwards, reminding himself that every second he wasted meant more Daedra could make it through the Gate. As he approached the stone, he swore he could hear them, roaring…

Then, it happened.

An earth-shaking crack split the endless night. Ivelaes was thrown to the ground by the unexpected noise, hurriedly grabbing for his staff in anticipation of this new threat. The whole tower gave a great lurch, as though it were ripped from its foundations. A hole opened in the dome, and Ivelaes peered outwards. He saw white, a shockingly white wall of flames, sweeping across the plane. The entire world seemed to vanish beneath it; Ivelaes thought he could see some Clannfear, tiny specks from his viewpoint, fleeing in terror. He scrambled backwards, turning towards his seeming last hope. He ran towards the Sigil Stone, whose keening was now drowned out in the roar of the white fire. The world seemed to dissolve around him as he ran. He reached out for the Stone as everything around him was consumed by light.

By Azura, the light…

It was tearing him to pieces…

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Please review. I need feedback to make my stories better.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the Elder Scrolls series.

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It was Naruto Uzumaki's birthday. For a normal child this would be a time of joy, but Naruto was not a normal child. The civilian portion of Konoha harbored a deep hatred for the boy. Attempts had been made on his life when he was young, although this had eventually tapered off into general neglect and rejection. The ninja population was held in check by the kindly Sandaime Hokage, but Naruto knew that they felt the same way about him. When the ANBU assigned to guard him was nowhere to be found during the attacks, he had begun to realize that the ninja, as well as the civilians, were not to be trusted.

After several years of this treatment, Naruto became introverted and suspicious. He took up hiding on the outskirts of the village, a place where civilians were supposedly not to go. The laws of Konoha stated that civilians could not leave the village without reporting their intent and destination to the Hokage or one of his subordinates. However, Naruto found a useful loophole while reading scrolls in the Hokage's office. The more expansive shinobi training grounds, while outside the walls, were technically part of the village. Naruto could take advantage of this whenever he needed a break; if he were to be caught, he would technically not be breaking the law.

The forest provided a source of endless leisure for the young boy. In the beginning, Naruto would visit the forest very infrequently, perhaps once a week. Over time, he became accustomed to the sights and sounds. Eventually, he began to spend whole days wandering among the trees, returning to the village proper only for food and to sleep. With so little interaction within the village, he never knew that his reduced presence was beginning to breed suspicion in the villagers. While it grew more and more in his absence, he did nothing to diminish it.

Then, one cloudy morning in late fall, it all came to a head.

One of the ninja guards patrolling along the wall noticed Naruto slipping out through the gates. This particular ninja was one of those who held a grudge against the boy, and he proceeded to leak the information to several of the town's biggest gossips. The word of Naruto's expeditions traveled quickly throughout the village. By late that afternoon, a small mob of civilians, fueled by paranoia and armed with makeshift weapons, had formed to search for Naruto. The scheming guard averted his gaze as they passed through the gate, never to know what he had inadvertently set in motion.

Naruto ran as he had never run before. The villagers caught him off guard as he relaxed, forcing him to flee. Early on, his first-hand knowledge of the paths had given him an advantage. Now, though, Naruto was no longer sure of his surroundings; he had never been this far from the village walls. Desperate to lose his pursuers, he made a sharp turn and dove into a crevice in the earth, landing on hard stone. The impact jarred his arm, but Naruto ignored the pain; peering out from his hiding place. The mob had not seen him; they ran past, shouting and cursing at their prey, and disappeared into the brush. He released a long-held breath, thanking Kami that it had been so easy to lose them. Suddenly, as he was preparing to break for the safety of the village, a loud crack resounded through the forest, caused him to seize up. Just as Naruto began to wonder what had made the noise, the ground beneath his feet began to shake. A spider-web pattern branched outwards from the spot where his shoulder had collided with the hard stone. Naruto looked frantically for an escape, but he was too slow. The ground gave way beneath his feet, and he plummeted into darkness.

Darkness: that was the first thing Naruto's mind registered as he awoke. At first, he thought night had fallen, and began to worry that someone would notice his absence. Then he felt the hard stone on which he was lying, heard the cold water rushing beneath him. He was lying in the middle of a cavern. A thin shaft of light, barely visible, came from the hole he had entered through. The cavern was almost entirely flooded, but Naruto had the good fortune to land on a shelf of rock that protruded from the wall. As a result, he only had a broken leg and one hell of a bruise to show for his fall.

Naruto's reawakening seemed to have triggered his bizarre healing mechanism. As he gasped in pain, the fragments of bone in his leg mended themselves together, the limb twisting into its proper shape. This was not the first time this had happened. Ever since Naruto was young, he had noticed himself healing from wounds much faster than normal people would. The Hokage, when Naruto asked about it, had simply waved it off.

His leg mended, Naruto looked around the cavern. The ledge upon which he sat presided over what seemed to be an underground river. Naruto could not see a way of getting out; the only light source was the hole he had fallen through. An idea then sprang to his mind: 'This water had to come from somewhere. Why not follow it back to its source?'

Without questioning his own logic, the boy leapt off the platform and into the water. It quickly became apparent, however, that he had underestimated the speed of the river. Naruto's average swimming skills, hampered by his freshly rebuilt leg, were no match for the twenty mile-per-hour current. He quickly found himself swept along, his body bashed against the rocky walls by the rushing water.

Naruto struggled, trying to get a grip on the sides, but it was no use. As he desperately tried to think of an escape route, a roaring filled his ears. He only took a second to conclude what was the source of the noise: 'WATERFALL!'

The cramped tunnel emptied into a massive cavern, the water crashing down almost thirty feet. A small boy was dumped unceremoniously into the water, gasping for breath as soon as he broke the surface. 'Kami,' Naruto thought as he looked around, 'you could fit my entire apartment complex in here at least three times over!' The cavern was filled by the roaring of the aforementioned waterfall, but Naruto noticed another noise, not quite drowned out. The sound emanated from a strange, domed structure, looming out of the water. As Naruto swam towards it, he was surprised to find the water growing warmer, as if the dome were generating heat. A hole in the leathery covering seemed a viable access point; Naruto clambered through and into the flooded dome.

The inside of the dome was more brightly lit than the rest of the cavern. The source of the illumination was a red and black sphere, floating in the center of the dome. Its mysterious ability to defy gravity only added to its allure, and Naruto felt himself being drawn towards it. Unfortunately, this meant he was not watching the ground, and he tripped over something. Looking at it, Naruto recoiled in horror. It was a skeleton, not a scrap of flesh on its bones, its expression making it seem as horrified by Naruto as he was of it. As the boy looked more closely, something more frightening made itself apparent. The skeleton was not human. The face was oddly shaped, the upper half of the skull being much wider than the lower; horns protruded from its forehead. Inspecting the rest of the chamber, Naruto saw many more of the monstrous corpses, but something else caught his eye.

The skeleton nearest the floating orb was decidedly more human, but it seemed to share the sphere's disregard of normal physics. It stood as though it were still alive, hand outstretched, fingers just inches away from the orb. In addition, it was surrounded by a mist, a sparkling blue fog seeming to fill the space where flesh once was. Naruto, driven by curiosity, moved to touch the bones, but the mist seemed to take offense. It disengaged from the skeleton, which dropped to the ground, and rushed towards Naruto. He collapsed into unconsciousness as it touched him, and the mist seemed to enter his chest. A second later, the only sign that something odd had happened was the appearance of a twisting pattern on the boy's stomach.

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Again, please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the Elder Scrolls series.

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Naruto awoke surrounded by gray.

It briefly occurred to him that this was the second time he had fallen unconscious that day. '_Wow… so far I've been chased by a mob, fallen into a hole, been nearly drowned, been thrown off a waterfall, been scared to death by a bunch of skeletons, and now I've been knocked out by a cloud. This is not my day._'

He noticed that he had again changed locations. The best word he could think of to describe this place was "blank." The ground was grey and cracked, and a cloud of some substance hovered around him, like a combination of dust and fog. The air was so thick with it that Naruto could barely see. He remembered a place he had once visited, a patch of the forest that had been cleared by fire. This reminded him of that scene; the dust like ashes, the sky was empty where one felt something great should have stood.

"_**Ah, but where is this? Ashpit? No, surely not. Not dark enough to be Nocturnal's plane. Perhaps the Scuttling Void?**_"

Naruto started at the faint voice, whirling to look for the speaker. Nothing appeared, however, and so he responded. "_Um… hello? Is anyone there_?" A moment passed in silence before a response came.

"_**A child? What is a child doing here? None of the Princes would allow a mere boy to roam their planes freely. How did you come to be here?**_"

Naruto hesitated before he spoke. "_I'm… not really sure. I found some sort of orb on a pedestal. I tried to touch it, but I blacked out, and woke up here_."

"_**An orb, you say? What did it look like?**_"

"_Well, it – hey, wait a minute! Who are you anyway? Where are we_?"

The voice made a noise that Naruto interpreted as a sigh. "_**I am Ivelaes, Master-Wizard of the Telvanni, servant of the Nerevarine. As for where we are, if you paid attention you would know that I am just as confused as you are. Now, if you don't mind my asking, who are YOU?**_"

"_I'm Naruto Uzumaki. What do those words you used mean, Telvanni and Nerevarine? And why do you call yourself a wizard? Ojii-san told me once that there were no such things as wizards_."

Ivelaes seemed about to respond when a monstrous roar boomed out from the mist.

"**Will you mortals cease your infernal yammering?**"

Naruto jumped at the sudden noise, looking in all directions as before. Again, nothing was to be seen. "_Alright, who else is there, and why can't I see either of you_?"

The clouds were suddenly blown away by a wave of energy. Naruto could now clearly see the two speakers. Ivelaes was a strange-looking man, with dark-blue skin and pointed ears. Of course, he was nothing compared to the creature at which he was glaring. A monstrous fox, with nine waving tails, stood upon the blasted ground.

"**I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune, lord of demons!**"

By this point, Naruto was lying on the ground, trembling in fear of the monstrous being before him. Ivelaes, however, was unfazed.

"_**Well, well; a demon, eh? I must say, I am rather unimpressed.**_"

"**You should take care not to offend me mortal, lest I destroy you.**"

"_**Of course. Boy, stop cowering like a lowly slave. The beast cannot harm either of us, judging by its bindings.**_"

Naruto glanced at the fox. Now that the initial terror had worn off, he could see that what Ivelaes said was true. The fox was held by thick chains that seemed to rise out of the ground, pinning it in place. The chains were supplemented by ropes of silvery thread; pieces of paper emblazoned with the kanji for "seal" covered these.

"_Oh. I guess you're right. Still though, what is that thing_?"

"_**It claims to be a demon, though it is not of any kind I have ever seen. Fox, how did you come to be here?**_"

"**I was trapped here by the leader of the humans, the one whom they called 'Yondaime'.**"

"_Wait, I thought the Yondaime killed you? And where is "here" anyway_?"

"**I know not of your leaders' lies, infant. I have been here, trapped inside your mind, for the past eight years.**"

A look of understanding dawned on Ivelaes' face. Naruto was still trying to wrap his head around the new information when the mage spoke.

"_**Naruto, if what the demon says is true, and we are in your mind, you should be able to get out of here without too much difficulty.**_"

An inquisitive look appeared on Naruto's face. "_Why is that_?" he asked.

"_**Obviously if you are awake here, you should be capable of regaining consciousness. Think of it like waking yourself from a dream.**_"

"_Ok, but what will happen to you_?"

"_**The demon has inhabited your mind for eight years. I assume I would remain here as well, although unbound.**_"

Naruto nodded. He was unsure whether he was comfortable with a wizard and a demon residing in his head, but one was bound and the other seemed trustworthy, so he accepted it.

"_Alright, so I should try to wake up now? What do I do, pinch myself or_…"

He tried it.

Naruto awoke lying on the floor of the dome. His head throbbed, and the world seemed to spin around him as he stood up. Looking around, he noticed that the standing bones had fallen to the floor. That reminded him of his newfound guests, and he wondered if the strange scene had actually taken place.

"**Of course it did, you imbecile.**"

The utterance seemed to come from nowhere. Naruto glanced around for a moment before he recognized it: the fox's voice.

"How are you talking to me? Where are you?" Naruto's voice echoed a bit in the dome.

"_**We are in your mind, of course. You do not need to speak out loud, by the way, a simple thought will do.**_"

"_What do I do now, Ivelaes?_" Naruto inquired. "_You were here before me, how do I get out?_"

"_**I was not here physically, the mist you clinging to my bones was all that remained of me. Without eyes, I could not survey the area; in short, I am as lost as you are.**_" The mage hesitated for a moment, and then continued. "_**I may have a solution to our problem, but I am not sure if it will work.**_"

"_What solution? What do you mean?_"

"_**I have been examining your mental landscape, more specifically, your personal energy. It appears somewhat similar to magicka, the power used by mages like myself, but also to the energies of the Daedra. Normally magicka in a child of your years would be too dilute to use, but with the added potency of Daedric magic, you may be able to cast spells.**_"

"_Wait, you mean I'll be able to use magic? Like, disappearing things and reading minds?_"

"_**Err… not exactly. I was thinking more along the lines of levitation, to get out through the tunnel you came in."**_

"_Oh… ok then!_ _So how does it work?_"

It would have taken years for Naruto to learn all the myriad facets of magic use. This was thankfully supplemented when the Kyuubi mentioned that Ivelaes could transfer memories to the boy, prompting another spell of unconsciousness as Naruto assimilated the knowledge. By the time he awoke, night had fallen, as evidenced by the lack of light in the cave. The only source of illumination was the ever-mysterious sigil stone, floating peacefully in the center of the dome.

"_**Alright Naruto, start by drawing the magic into your hand, then raise your arm and extend the aura downwards over your body.**_"

"_Okay… draw the magic…_"

However, as Naruto attempted to reach into the Aetherius, something happened. The seal suddenly lit up, drawing the magic back into itself. For both Naruto and Ivelaes had forgotten something: the seal was designed to capture demonic energy, one type of which was Daedric magic.

Naruto screamed, feeling as though he were being burned alive. The feeling initially coated his whole body, but slowly began to recede in his extremities. The pain became more intense as it was compressed, until with a final shriek from the boy, it vanished entirely.

The seal continued to glow, not white as before, but a deep reddish-black, like dried blood. As Naruto watched, a tendril of some unknown substance extended from the pattern on his stomach, reaching towards the sigil stone. As it made contact, the stone began to vibrate, emitting a piercing whine. A pillar of blazing fire shot upwards, out of the dome, and through the roof of the cave. Cracks began to spread through the ceiling.

Naruto could not move, immobilized by the residual pain and by his fear of the events that followed it. He dimly registered voices, both Ivelaes' and the Kyuubi's, telling him to move, but he could not focus. The cave was filled with light as the dome dissolved around him, and he knew nothing more.

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AN: I'm planning on giving Naruto either the Ebony Blade or the Daedric Crescent as a weapon. Thoughts?

AN2: Thanks to vikingguy for the first review. In case anyone else was wondering, I will not be giving Naruto his weapon until he is older. Probably around the Chuunin Exams.

Please review.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Naruto or the Elder Scrolls series.

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The position of Hokage was _not_ all it was cracked up to be.

Hiruzen Sarutobi thought such to himself as he hurried to visit the hospital. The whole situation was a mess. It had started with a massive pulse of chakra outside Konoha's walls. A squad of ANBU had been dispatched to investigate, but as they approached, the chakra changed. What had been relatively normal chakra, apart from the massive quantities, had become something much more dangerous, before disappearing altogether. Several of the ANBU had described it as feeling similar to the Kyuubi's power, although much darker and more human. The field where the energy had been emitted from had seemingly vanished, replaced by a barren gray landscape. The only living thing they found was a boy. Uzumaki Naruto.

Sarutobi sighed as he recalled what came after. The council had been in an uproar, half of it convinced the Kyuubi was escaping, the other half worried that the boy was tapping into its power. Very few seemed to care about the boy himself, care that he was in a coma and refused to wake up, no matter what the doctors tried. Sarutobi had spent several hours arguing with the politicians, and several more dealing with the paperwork generated by the event. Now he was hurrying to the hospital, to check up on Naruto's condition himself.

The staff did not attempt to stop the Hokage as he made his way into the emergency ward. He did not stop until he was outside Naruto's room, observing the "quarantine" sign on the door.

"What is Naruto's status?" he asked the nearest doctor.

"Uzumaki-san was suffering from mild exposure when he was brought in. Oddly, his accelerated healing thanks to you-know-what does not seem to be functioning, possibly due to the beast expending too much energy in an attempt to escape."

Sarutobi stared at the window for a moment before inquiring, "How long will it be before he awakens?"

"We don't know for sure, Hokage-sama. His injuries are not severe enough to have driven him into this coma, so we must assume this is a side-effect of the event that got him sent here."

Meanwhile, Naruto was having a strange experience in his mind.

"_Ivelaes, what is this?_"

"_**I believe it is a side-effect of the event that put you in this coma…**_"

Naruto's mind had changed. The clouds of ash had thinned, allowing him to survey the landscape. It seemed vaguely familiar, with blackened, hilly ground and stone obelisks jutting out here and there.

"_**The Ashlands…,**_" whispered Ivelaes, a sense of longing in his voice.

"_What are the Ashlands, Ivelaes?_" Naruto inquired.

"_**One of the regions of Vvardenfell, they cover most of the island… They are home to Tel Uvirith… my home…**_"

Naruto remained silent, allowing Ivelaes to reminisce. It occurred to him that he would not have done this before, would have continued to bother the mage for information. He wondered what brought about this change in his temperament. Leaving Ivelaes to his thoughts, Naruto went to search for the Kyuubi.

He found the fox lying in a pool of lava. Naruto could feel the heat from several yards away, but the demon lord did not seem bothered by it at all. Naruto approached the beast.

"_Kyuubi… I had a question to ask of you. Would you mind?_"

"**Ah… the child returns. I feel obligated to thank you. This heat is wonderfully soothing.**"

"_There is no need to thank me, Kyuubi. Truthfully, I had no control over it._"

"**Ah, well. I am comfortable, and that is all that matters to me. You may ask your question.**"

"_What exactly has happened to me? I feel… different. I find myself acting in a way I would not have before. I am less impulsive; my speech seems more… eloquent._"

"**It is but one of the effects of you and the mage meddling with the seal. Your chakra, as the shinobi call it, is a mixture of magicka and demonic energy. When you attempted to separate the two to cast spells, the seal containing me detected the 'freed' demonic energy and tried to absorb it. Unfortunately, attempting to contain all of your natural demonic energy in addition to my own overtaxed the seal, and it vented some of it. The vented power activated the demonic artifact, the sigil stone, and here we are.**"

"_So what are the effects on me?_"

"**Well, with the demonic power stripped from your chakra, you are left with pure magicka. In essence, your energy is the same as that of your ancestors' before their blood was mixed with that of demons.** **Your mind and body have adapted to the change as well, with the result of you being able to think more clearly. You will begin to change physically as well.**"

Naruto nodded, showing his understanding. "_Thank you for your explanation, Kyuubi. I believe I can figure it out now._"

"**I am simply pleased to have someone intelligent to converse with. You may want to return to consciousness now; the other humans are worrying over you.**"

"_Yes, I think I will. Talk to you later, alright?_"

Naruto faded from his mindscape, suddenly becoming aware of his surroundings. He winced at the brightness of the hospital room, moving to cover his eyes.

"Naruto! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Hokage-jiji… "

"I've been worried sick about you! What happened? What…"

The doctor interrupted "Pardon me, Hokage-sama, but we'll need to run some tests to make sure the boy's alright…"

"Of course. Naruto, I want you to come visit me as soon as you are released, all right?"

Naruto agreed. He spent the next half-hour being examined by the doctors, who seemed disappointed to find nothing wrong with him. He eventually slipped out while the doctors were dealing with an academy student who had been injured while sparring. He made his way to the Hokage Tower.

When he arrived, the secretary was missing. He had come to expect this. After the first few times she had been rude to Naruto, the Hokage started letting her take breaks whenever he expected the boy over. It made her happy and prevented more "incidents" from occurring.

"Ojii-san, I'm here."

"Ah, Naruto, come in."

Naruto took a seat in front of the desk. He already knew what the Hokage was going to ask him. What had he been doing outside the walls, what happened to him?

Ivelaes took that moment to voice an opinion. "_**I wouldn't mention myself or the Kyuubi if I were you. Just skip over everything between the waterfall and the cave collapsing. You should be fine.**_"

"_Right, got it._"

To tell only part of truth is usually much easier than to tell a lie, and Naruto's story was essentially that. An hour later, he was heading back to his apartment. He locked and bolted the door, a habit he had picked up when he was young, and lay down on his bed.

"_Ivelaes, you there?_"

"_**Yes. Naruto, I've been doing some thinking, and I've come up with a plan.**_"

"_Let's hear it._"

"_**It seems likely that I will never return to my world, or at least not for a long time. As such, and in light of my… current position, I have decided to assist you.**_"

"_Wait, what? Assist me how exactly?_"

"_**I have been going through your memories at the demon's suggestion, and I know that you were planning to become a 'ninja' when you were older. As you no longer have chakra, that will be difficult. Therefore, I am offering to take you as my apprentice. You would be, not a shinobi, but a mage.**_"

Naruto paused for a moment, considering the idea. Wielding magicka instead of chakra would be a bit different, but he felt sure it could make up for any difference. Moreover, to wield power that no one else could, his own personal _kekkei genkai_, would surely bring him respect. Yet, was that what he truly wanted, respect? No, he had a new goal: power. To have the power to raise up his allies and cast down his enemies, that was his dream. That was the _Telvanni_ dream.

"_I accept._"

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Thus ends the first arc. Hooray.

Please review. I _really_ need feedback.

AN, May 24: Sorry for the lack of updates lately, I've been dealing with exams. The next chapter should be up within the next two days.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own the whole, not the components.

Here it is, the fifth chapter. Enjoy!

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Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed to himself as he signed off on yet another proposal from the council. It was something about planting trees around the outer wall. What was the point? Konoha was a ninja village, more a military base than a civilian town. How many military commanders had to worry about wall decorations? Yet the civilians insisted on treating Konoha like a gated community, prettying it up so the visitors could gawk at it.

He put these thoughts from his mind as he looked at his agenda. He had a meeting with a Mr. Telvanni scheduled soon. This odd man had recently purchased some land on the outskirts of the city. Normally landowners would go before the council with problems, but the land in question had been part of a shinobi training ground. With the property being so close to sites of ninja activity, Sarutobi was obliged to keep track of the owner.

The decision to sell off the training ground in question occurred because of the environmental oddities therein. Two years ago, in an event known informally as the Ash-fall, a small field within the grounds had… changed. What had been an open, grassy plain, used for practicing large-scale techniques, was now a scarred, ashen blotch. The ash gave the event its name; it covered the area, swept up and spread around by the wind. Not only did this constitute a health hazard (the air sometimes became so thick with dust that one could not breath), but it also made it difficult to see, resulting in numerous incidents of friendly fire.

The blighted area was not content to stay put, either. As the ash spread, it choked the land around it. It coated the leaves of plants, deprived them of light, and killed them. Thus, the small region became larger, despite all efforts to stop its growth. Some had compared it to the deserts of the Land of Wind, although the sandstorms there were nowhere near as common as the "ash-storms".

Telvanni-san had come before the Council with a proposition. None had ever heard of him before, although there were rumors of his having had a short career as a bounty hunter. He offered to stop the spread of the ash; in exchange, he wanted the lands that it had already consumed. The council cared little about a shinobi training ground on the outskirts of the city, much less a dangerous and disused one, so they agreed. Telvanni vanished for a week… and the ashen winds stopped.

Sarutobi was intrigued by the apparent ease with which the storms were calmed. He had called in numerous experts, from civilian landscaping experts to the ANBU code-named Yamato, but none had any suggestions. If this man could halt the spread so easily, he must be either very smart or vary powerful. Either could warrant an invitation to join the ninja forces.

"Send him in."

As the man walked into the room, Sarutobi gauged him carefully. He wore a cloak, an uncommon mode of dress in their society, which had slits down the sides of the legs. These were obviously meant to allow for freedom of movement, something a non-fighter would not worry about. His face was the only exposed bit of flesh, with the sleeves of his cloak hiding his hands. '_Hiding any hand seals he makes as well…_' He held a blank expression on his face, giving of an aura of calmness and unconcern.

"Good afternoon, Telvanni-san. Please, take a seat, would you?"

"Greetings to you as well, Hokage-san. May I ask what you wanted to see me about?"

There was a faint recognition of the voice. Sarutobi could not tell where, but he knew he had heard it before.

"You may. I was wondering how exactly you managed to achieve such a feat as you did recently; I speak of course of the taming of the ash-storms. Many of my best experts were unable to undo the changes made to that area. In fact, several informed me that they saw no possibility of it being fixed."

Telvanni chuckled. "That may be part of the problem. If you insist on thinking of a natural condition as something to be 'fixed', then you will never get anywhere. To fix a thing implies the restoration of a superior state, but in the case of nature there is no such other state."

"I see… However, you yourself have removed the winds. Is that not a superior state?"

"I have not _removed_the winds, Hokage-san. The wind is a force of nature; nothing short of a celestial being could alter or remove it. I have simply redirected the wind. Where before it swept outwards, it now aims upward, taking the ash with it. It mixes with clouds, and is thus dispersed over the entire region, diluted so much that the effect is negligible."

The Hokage pondered this for a moment. It was a simple solution; simply spread the ash elsewhere instead of concentrating it in a small area. They had found nothing in the ash that would harm wildlife, especially not in such small concentrations. Only the amount made it dangerous, and this was no longer a problem.

"That seems reasonable. Yet, how did you accomplish this? Even a momentary redirection of wind takes an appreciable amount of chakra, and for your plan to work the flow would needs be constant."

"It is. You see, I have begun construction of a tower on the property. Within this tower is a mechanism that draws energy from all the living organisms on the property. It routes this energy to a second mechanism, which feeds out just enough energy to keep the air current going. A side benefit is that this will protect my lands from any techniques being practiced on neighboring plots; as soon as they cross the boundary they will dissipate."

Sarutobi took a moment to wrap his head around this explanation. "But… but that's not possible! Draining chakra from others is only possible through direct contact, in rare cases across short distances. Plus, for this… mechanism to perform as you describe, it would need artificial chakra pathways, which no one has ever been able to produce."

Telvanni simply smirked.

"Who said anything about chakra?"

As Sarutobi sat in shock, trying to take in the meaning behind those words, Telvanni simply stood up and walked to the window.

"I am tired. If you don't mind, I shall retire to my tower for now. Feel free to drop by if you should have any more questions. Goodbye ojii-san."

The older man's eyes widened as he suddenly recognized the voice, the faint sense of familiarity resolving into a clear mental image. Hand outstretched, Sarutobi made to stop him, ask him to explain what he meant, who he was. Nevertheless, the man simply faded from his sight, leaving no trace.

* * *

Within a heavily sealed room in the tower, runic inscriptions pulsed to life. They filled the circular chamber, woven around each other on the walls. As they gave one last flash, a figure stepped out of the air in the central circle. He stood around five and a half feet tall, with his white hair drawn into a ponytail. Reaching up, he pulled the skin from his face, revealing it no more than a mask. The cloth shimmered in his hand, as though it were glass.

The figure knelt and opened a concealed door in the side of the wall, emerging from a kitchen cabinet on the other side. The recall chamber had to remain well hidden, as it held some of his most valuable work. Lacking a connection to the Aetherius, and thus an external energy source, he had to rely on his own inherent magicka to cast spells. Illusions such as his mask were not difficult to enchant, and he had access to some of the restorative and destructive schools. This work of alteration, however, required much preparation to make it work, and even more to make a permanent marker.

As he ascended the tower steps, small gems twinkled in the walls. None but he knew that they were actually security mechanisms, attuned to detect his specific energy signature. Were it anyone else, the steps and the ceiling would simply vanish, leaving them with no way to ascend.

Finally reaching the apex of the tower, the figure moved to the window. He looked out over the ashen ground that was his domain. In the weeks since he had purchased the area, he had already established what would be the foundation of his clan compound.

'_The council will be in for a shock soon,_' he thought to himself. Chuckling as he imagined their faces, he turned away. There was much work still to be done. The steam engine, which would power the compound, was in need of tuning to bring it to full efficiency. Even then, it would not match the Dwemer engines from which it was derived.

Yes, much work was to be done…

Telvanni no Naruto began to descend.

* * *

Once again, sorry for the delay in getting this posted. Now that exams are almost done, updates should be getting longer and more frequent.

Please review!


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